8/05/2012

Unusual Hotels – Hippo Point, Kenya



The 40mt tower is the perfect Hippo Watching Sanctuary



Hippo Point Wildlife Sanctuary on Lake Naivasha in Kenya is the ultimate resort for Hippo Watching.



This delicate 115 foot (40m) Kenyan Cypress-clad pagoda stands 50 ft (12m) wide at its base and offers 4 double rooms and a single inside the nine storey construction. Nestling within the surrounding yellow acacia ‘fever’ trees that surround much of Lake Naivasha, the design is completely accepted by wildlife, fooling short sighted hippopotami to think that the Tower is part and parcel of the landscape, a towering yellow acacia itself.


Unusal Hotels of the world2



Hippos at Play



Background
Completed in 1993, Hippo Point is the eccentric folly of Dodo Cunningham-Reid, who wanted to build something special in Kenya for herself and others to enjoy.




Drawing Room of the Wild life Lodge




Bedroom in the Wild Life Lodge



The Lodge
Originally planned as a weekend escape for Dodo and husband Michael when visiting their 600 acre Nderit estate, there is impressive attention to detail. The top of the tower provides a 360 degree observation lookout, while a floor below is a minaret-style meditation room, furnished with big cushions and a surround view. The middle tiers of the tower offer bedrooms with crisp Russian linens and covered verandas. Down spiral stairs and you reach a mahogany paneled lounge and drawing room, spectacularly original, yet luxuriously functional.



A local architect provided the plans for the necessary steel structure and concrete foundations and Dodo used local materials and craftsmen to hide the technical aspects of the inner skeleton with cedar floors and carved furnishings.




Lake Naivasha with flamingoes



From $550 a night all inclusive. Book on www.unusualhotelsoftheworld.com



Tagged: Castello Dal Pozzo, Things to do, Things to see, Travel, Unusual hotels


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